Protective envelope for liquid fuel containers



Sept. ZG, 1932. Y J. A. TODD 1,878,063v

f PROTECTIVE ENVELOP'E FOR LIQUID FUEL CONTAINERS Filed July 2, 1930against the calamity of Patente' .su 20,1932

PATENT f oFFlcE Josera a. ronn, or sioux crrY, Iowa PBOTCTIVEENVELOPELFOR LIQUID FUEL CONTAINERS Application led J'uly 2, .1930.Serial No. 465,354.

My invention relates to fuel containers that. are used on vehiclessubject to the danger of being smashed in accidents such as the gasolinetanks of aeroplanes or of automobiles.

The purpose of m invention is to provide protection against t e sprayingof the contents of such a tank in the event of a smashup violent enoughto rend the seams of the lo allow the contents to be sprayed out inquantities.

The invention is aimed particularly at the protection of the occu nts ofaeroplanes, re in the event of an accident to the plane.

More deaths are caused by the burning of wrecked planes than by thecollision with the earth in falls of planes.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of mydevice, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinaftermore and illustrated in the accompanying draw- 'in in which:

ig. 1 is a longitudinal, sectional vievr through a gasoline tankembodying my invention. Y

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, sectional view through the filling neck of thetank.

Fi 3 is a similar view 'showing a modiiied crm of the invention and Fi 4is a detail, sectional view taken o the line of Fig. 2.

y l have used the reference character 10 to indicate the sheet metalwalls of a fuel tank such as the gasoline'tank ot an aeroplane.

u The illing neck is shown at 11 and the cap therefor at 12.

The discharge pipe 13 is provided with a valve 14 by means of which thepipe line may be cut olf at the tank. The pipe 13 communicates with thecarburetor of the plane engine, The valve 14 is adapted to hemanipulated vfrom the cockpit by means of a control rod 15.

When a plane falls, the pipe line will or tank or to open the tank inany way that will fully set forth, pointed ont in my claims,

dinarily be broken but the greatest danger is notgcaused by the breakingof the pipe line but rather by the rending of the seams, the

Vtank splitting open and spraying the gasoline in lar e quantities inall directions. The opening o the tank is very seldom caused by 55piercing of the walls thereof but rather by the breaking open of theseams. If the seams are so strongly welded as to prevent this, the tankwill burst under the terrific impact of a falling collision with theearth. In' any o0 event the usual result in a plane crack-up is for thetank to rip open so as to spray gasoline in all directions.

The present invention remedies this condition providing a protectiveenvelope for 05 the tank which will have suilicient resiliency so thatitwill. not burst with thehursting of the tank and adapted to retain theliquid which escapes from the tank Within its en-. closure. go

The envelope is illustrated at 16 and forms a complete enclosure aroundvall sides of the tank.l Openings are left only for the filling neck l1and the feed line 13 and air vent pipe 17.

The envelope 16 is constructed of substan ,tially pure para rubberhaving maximum stretching qualities such as the rubber that is used ininner tubes, toy balloons and the like. The thickness of the envelopewall will be a@ sucient so that piercing of the envelope by the tankwill be a rare occurrence. To this end the envelope is upwards ofone-fourth of an inch in thickness for the usual aeroplane fuel tank.

envelope however will tend to stretch closed around any cuts that may beproduced in it and the amount of gasoline which can be sprayed throughsaid cuts under the force of a collision will be quite small comparedwith the amount of gasoline which can escape through the gaping openingsin thevtank.

Although all of the gasoline may escape from the tank, the largerportion of it will e retained within the rubber envelope Jfor asufiicient length of time to very greatly retard'the fire hazard and togive the passenger an opportunity toescape from the plane b efore beingburned. Y

In the usual case of burning of a fallen plane, the plane bursts intoHaines immediately upon striking the earth. This gives the passengerpractically no opportunity for escape. The present invention will inmany instances prevent the occurrence of a fire and inl many moreinstances retard the fire to such an extent that opportunity will begiven for escape. In either case, it serves the purpose of saving humanlives. l

The envelope 16 fits loosely around the tank l() in order that it maymore readily adapt itself to any shape; the tank may be twisted in twounder the force of the collision.' The loose condition of the envelopereduced the frictional engagement between the tank and the envelope to aminimum. Consequently the tank may be distorted within the envelope veryrapidly and the envelope may yet slide around the tank to adapt itselfto the change in form thereof.

The preferred form of construction of the envelope at the filling neckis as shown in Fig. 2. A collar 18 of rigid material such as hard rubberis secured to the neck portion 19 ofthe envelope by any suitable meanssuch as by vulcanizing or by wrapping with binding wire 20.

The diameter of the collar 18 is considerably greater than that oftheneck 11. A cover 21 is threadedy onto thevcollar 18. It will now be seenthat although the envelope is provided with an opening to allow accessto the filling neck that it is not rigidly attached to the filling neckand consequently that there will be very little tendency for the fillingneck'to vtax the envelope.

lThe collar 18 is attached to the neck 11 by means of a resilientdiaphragm 22 of the same material as the envelope, the diaphragm beingsecured, around the periphery of the collar 18 and around the neck 411.The diaphragm 22 serves to seal the envelope against spillmg of gasolineinto the envelope while t e tank is being lled. The same type ofconnection as that described in Fig. 2 may beemployed to seal' theenvelope along the pipe line 13 and the vent pipe 17. The cover 21 wouldof course be omitted in this case and the diaphragm 22 employed to closethe envelope.' In the form shown, the envelope is attached rigidly tothe pi e line 13 and the vent pipe 17.

Suc a rigid attachment isshownin Fig. 3 in conjunction with the neck 11.The neck 19 ofthe envelope. is secured directly to the tank neck 11 bymeans of binding 20.

, It will be understood thatany of the rub-- ber substitutes havingsubstantially 'equal properties of electricity, toughness andnonporosity may be employed in the envelope.

Some changes may be made inthe construction and arrangement of thepartsof my invention without departing from the real spirit and purposeof my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims anymodlfied forms of structure 'or use of mechanical equivalents, which maybe reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a rigid container for highly infiammable liquidfuel for use in connection with a vehicle subject to the danger of veryserious collisions,a protective envelope of thick, highly stretchablerubber or material having properties of elasticity, toughness ornon-porosity substantially equal to those of rubber, substantiallycompletely inclosing the tank and fitting loosely thereover, and meansfor snugly securing the envelope about the filling neck and-pipe line ofthe, container, said means including substantially cylindrical openingsin the envelope, said orifices shaped to follow the Icontour of the saidfilling neck and pipe line` and securely bound thereto.

2. In combination with a rigid container for highly inflammable liquidfuel for use in connection with a vehicle and the inlet neck of thecontainer, a protective 'envelope of thick, highlystretchable rubber ormaterial having properties of elasticity, toughness or non-porositysubstantially equal to those of rubber, and means including cylindricalopenings in the envelope securely bound to the said inlet neck toprevent inlet of the fluid to the envelope.

3. In combination with ay rigid container for highly infiammable liquidfuel for use in connection with a vehicle andtheinlet neck of thecontainer, a protective envelope of thick, -highly stretchable rubber ormaterial having properties of elasticity, toughness or non-porpsitysubstantially equal to those of rubber, and means including cylindricalopenings. in the envelope securely bound to' the said inlet neck toprevent inlet ofthe fiuid to the envelope, and additional means .for,protecting the said inlet neck comprising av cylindrical semi-resilientmember threade at its upper end and snugly secured to said' envelope bysuitable securing means, and a protecting cap threadably received onsaid upser portion of the semi-resilientmember. igned this 3rd day ofJune, 1930, in the county of Woodbury and State of Iowa.

Y `[JOSEPH: aroma.

,nev

